Costain, the infrastructure solutions company, in partnership with WSP, has been granted funding by Northumbrian Water to develop a new AI-powered platform designed to improve the efficiency and accuracy of data, thereby reducing delivery times for the company’s capital projects during asset management period 8 (AMP8).
The funding will enable Costain and WSP to develop a proof-of-concept for WISDOM – Wastewater Insights for Standardisation, Delivery, Operation and Maintenance – a platform that uses generative AI technology to capture, standardise and analyse large volumes of data from a variety of sources, providing a comprehensive intelligent database of operational assets.
With AMP8 investment programmes likely to see a doubling of investment from the previous cycle, and a corresponding increase in asset interventions, capital delivery and operational teams need to manage and evaluate larger, more complex sets of data for compliance purposes.
The WISDOM AI platform would seek to optimise, combine and process huge datasets, providing richer insight into operational performance for capital delivery teams working on AMP8 projects. The expectation is that the platform will reduce the need for wastewater works managers to repeatedly provide and analyse operational data for delivery teams, thereby reducing time spent on data entry which can be up to 45% of their working week. This will in turn improve overall delivery times and potentially save more than £10m for Northumbrian Water over the course of the AMP8 lifecycle.
The idea was developed during Northumbrian Water’s Innovation Festival, where Costain and WSP were challenged with the task of revolutionising the designing and building of wastewater assets during the AMP8 investment cycle. Costain and WSP will deliver strategic infrastructure upgrades for the water company’s AMP8 investment programme.
Gavin Stonard, framework director at Costain, commented: “Capital delivery programmes in AMP8 – which will see a doubling of investment on wastewater assets compared with AMP7 – will require enormous volumes of data to be gathered and analysed for design, operational and compliance purposes. This will be a considerable challenge and will not be accomplished using existing techniques.
“Working closely with WSP and Northumbrian Water and using cutting-edge generative AI technology, we will provide teams with the information they need quickly and efficiently. This will be a first-of-a-kind solution for the water sector, and one that could have significant benefits in improving productivity, reducing delivery times and creating better outcomes for Northumbrian Water customers.
“It’s hugely exciting to be taking this idea to proof-of-concept stage. Being at the forefront of innovation is a testament to the enterprising culture that Northumbrian Water has fostered with its suppliers.”
Michelle Johnson, technical director, WSP, commented: “We quickly recognised the challenge facing Northumbrian Water and that solving it required new and radical thinking. The Innovation Festival allowed us to stretch the boundaries and consider the adoption of new technologies, such as generative AI, and apply them to a capital delivery setting. We’re looking forward to taking WISDOM to the next level with the hope that, if successful, we can roll it out and make important savings throughout AMP8.”
Richard Seales, head of engineering, Northumbrian Water, commented: “Coming up with fresh ways of thinking about the delivery of new and upgraded wastewater assets is not easy, but Costain and WSP have more than risen to the challenge, and their energy and enthusiasm has been plain to see. This was one of the standout ideas from our Innovation Festival and we’re excited to see how its application could solve a big challenge facing the whole of the water sector.”
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